His expression held something unexpected–something that almost looked like sadness.
“Chloe, do you really have to call me that? Do I sound like a stranger to you?”
The familiar scent of him, laced with the crispness of rain, wrapped around me.
He was so close–so dangerously close to pulling me back into the past.
For a fleeting moment, I felt the exhaustion of holding everything in.
Then, I shoved him away and met his gaze coldly.
“How else should I address you? Should I call you Liam? Should I go back to three years ago, when I bled trying to protect you, only for you to call out Linda’s name instead?”
He fell silent.
“The past is over. The person you were engaged to was always Linda. Your life is back on track, so why are you still
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Chapter 11
chasing me?”
“But this isn’t my version of ‘back on track.“”
Liam stared at me, his eyes growing red at the edges.
“I never even saw Linda before. From the start, the only person I recognized was you.”
A dull, suffocating ache spread through my chest.
I shut my eyes for a moment, steadying myself.
But when I spoke, my voice still trembled.
“You’re lying.
“Liam, I was standing outside your hospital room the day you regained your sight. I heard everything. I heard you mistake her for me without a single doubt.
“You held her. You kissed her-”
“I didn’t,” he cut in abruptly.
“The second I opened my eyes, I knew she wasn’t you.‘
I froze.
Liam’s voice remained eerily calm.
“The Hughes family is complicated. That day, in that hospital room, there was more than one person who wanted me dead.
“So, the moment I realized she wasn’t you, I made a decision.
“Linda was the perfect target.‘
11
He curled his lips slightly, a trace of something cold and razor–sharp flashing in his eyes.
“She loves taking someone else’s place? Then I let her have it.”
A series of old news reports suddenly flickered through my mind.
I came across them while studying abroad.
One article described how Linda was caught in a real explosion on set, barely escaping with her life.
Another reported how, during a vacation with Liam, she was nearly crushed by a falling billboard.
“I never ignored you on purpose. A lot has happened in these three years.
“After my grandfather passed, one by one, members of the Hughes family came forward, trying to get rid of me.
mother.” But now, they’re either behind bars or six feet under. That includes my own
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